The troll--as such taunting posters are dubbed--would frequently ignite massive angry e-mail responses, or flame wars, at times limiting the usefulness of the Full Disclosure list. Over time, n3td3v took on multiple online personalities, or gained members of the n3td3v group, and attempted to create an online security hub. The group's favorite targets included Yahoo!, Google, other researchers and security news reporters, including this one. Even after n3td3v gave up the virtual ghost in September 2006, no one knew the name of the person who infuriated, and amused, so many researchers.

Now, an independent security consultant believes that linguistic forensics--a branch of science that attempts to identify authors by the content and style of their writings--has linked n3td3v with a previous security-list troll and hacking group known as Gobbles. In a 19-page report published on Friday, consultant Neal Krawetz argues that statistical analysis of mailing-list messages posted by n3td3v and advisories written by Gobbles indicates that each group appears to be three, or possibly four, people, and the writing styles of the people making up the two groups appear to match. The report uses five different metrics of writing style to determine whether the authors are American or non-American, male or female, and their degree of education. While the five indicators have large margins of error, using the methods together minimizes the error, Krawetz claimed.